Two of His (and our) Favorites

Dancing and Laughing.

The lighting isn't so great in this video, but it is still really fun to watch my boys dance. Notice how Rob is trying to hide in the corner as if the neighbors are going to spy on him :)!

I have watched this one over and over, and it still makes me laugh out loud!

P.S: Check out the baby count down at the top of the page-less than 30 days to go!

The Things We'll Miss

Naturally, since we have been here in the bay area, we have thought a lot about what we left behind. We are really pleased to be in the northern part of Cali., and to be settled and through with moving around (Lord willing!). It is just all part of the process, though, to look back a little and think of all that we experienced in our previous home. For one thing, Long Beach will always be Bennett's birth place. I will never forget walking endlessly in our first neighborhood with our tiny newborn. That was pretty much all we did was walk around and explore, since we didn't know anyone. The beach was only about six blocks from our house, so we went there often. We eventually settled in and made friends-it felt like it took forever. Looking back, it really didn't take that long.

I became part of a mom's group, and that gave Bennett and I something to do. Later on, in a class Bennett took, I met my friend Christy. For some reason our friendship totally took me by surprise-and it was such a sweet surprise. I have never mentioned Christy on our blog before, probably mainly because she is not a fellow blogger. She and her son Wiley were a big part of our everyday life in L.B, and both Bennett and I have really been missing them since we left. Bennett often asks if Wiley will be there when we go to our "new park", and he has even asked to email Wiley a couple of times :). Christy is also pregnant with baby number 2, only about 6 weeks behind me. While we are/were both busy chasing our boys, we always found time to hang out. I am really going to miss our regular visits, and the much needed breaks that we provided eachother. Whether at the park, farmer's market, one of our homes, etc., our friendship provided a little sanity when life became a little too centered around toddler and baby living.

Anyway, I didn't plan on writing a whole dedication to Christy and Wiley, that just sort of happened. But here are some pictures of the things we will miss:

The Randalls (sis. and fam.)
It goes without saying. It has not quite
sunk in for me yet how far we are from them...ugh.
Bennett cried, actually cried when he couldn't go see Ally
our first day here.

Beach time

Buddies!
Bennett's first friend, Tyler

Bennett's good friend, Olivia, a.k.a. "O."

Playing with O

Our playgroup (not everyone is pictured).
Most of us moms were either pregnant
or had a newborn. This is a great group
of ladies!

Evan

...and ofcourse:

Wiley!

Christy and Wiley

Here's to good friends, good times, and a happy first 2 years of life in the L.B.C.!

And So It Goes...

We had a second appointment yesterday w/my new Dr.F. He was concerned last week about my high blood pressure, and, well, yesterday it was worse (174/94). So, he sent me over to the hospital to be monitored and have blood and other tests done.

For anyone who may not know, I was put on bed rest right about this time in my pregnancy w/Bennett for the same reason. I have been hopeful that things wouldn't go this way again, because my B.P. numbers have been way better this pregnancy.

Anyway, it was much easier yesterday having been through this before. Still not my favorite thing to be hospitalized, of course, but Rob was a rock, and Bennett handled the hours of doctor time like a little champ. The hard part is always waiting with out answers, but I felt confident that everything was o.k. The best case scenario would have been that it was just high blood pressure, not effecting my platelet count, liver function, and amniotic fluid level.... the worst case scenario would have been that some or all of those things were impacted by the b.p, and the baby would need to be delivered. All of my tests came out normal/good, and they sent me home with a prescription for blood pressure medication. Hopefully the meds. will get things under control and I won't have to go on bed rest.

The good news was, she is still head down (unlike my breech Bennett), and the doc. says if my blood pressure stabilizes, I am a good candidate for a vbac. Also, I'm lovin' this doctor! Not in an inappropriate "pregnant lady has a crush on her OB" kind of way (that happens a lot, you know). We just feel super comfortable with him, his office, and the hospital. I know I mentioned it before, but I think it is worth repeating. I wish we had moved into his care sooner!

I have a blood pressure cuff at home, and today I pulled it out, and Bennett said: "bud-pre-pur... baby...um hm." Translation: Mom's checking her blood pressure to make sure the baby is o.k. I have never explained that to him; he always knows more than we think! I will continue to keep you all posted. I need to post a couple of funny videos, too, so you will hear from us soon.

Best. Son. Ever.

Here's how it went down:

Bennett: More
Me: More what?
Bennett: Cow bell

No joke!

Update

We have some recent pregnancy news. To start off, here is what I read in my preggo journal today (hopefully this is not too boring):

"If your baby is born now, it will not only be able to make an efficient transition from the womb to the outside, but it will also be able to resist disease...This day marks the end of eight months (34 weeks) of pregnancy."

So, here we are at month nine. Woh. We have had some stress with moving and finding a doctor; there were only so many options with our insurance, naturally, and when I called around, a bunch of them basically responded by saying, "you're how many weeks?!? Not gonna happen." Then there is this other -not so small- issue of the limited number of doctors and hospitals around here that will allow VBACs. Anyway, yesterday we got some great news, and I am so excited that I needed to blog about it. We had an appointment to meet with one last doctor yesterday afternoon. If things went well, we would be happy and move forward with the new guy. If things did not go well, we would have had to stick with a doctor that neither of us felt very comfortable with (we met him and it was a strange experience), and I would have had no chance of trying a VBAC. So, as you may have guessed, yesterday's appointment went great! We are very excited about the new doctor. His office was cozy but still professional, and his staff was SO friendly. The ladies met Bennett, and loved him, and of course we love anyone who loves Bennett. They even offered to watch him during some appointments since we are new to the area and Rob may not be able to leave work to help me out. Also, I will deliver (naturally or by caesarean-we will see) at a hospital in Berkeley called Alta Bates. It has an outstanding reputation, and we are told that they are really well equipped for complications. And bonus: the labor rooms are private! My doctor will be the guy to bring Elodie into the world (as opposed to another on-call doctor), and that makes me really happy. So, ya, just good, good news all around for the Markleys. We are feeling incredibly grateful to God for taking such care with every detail (as always) of this move. I knew all along that He would make it all good for this baby-after all, He already knows her and loves her. Knowing and trusting are two very different things, though, and I will admit that I was becoming worried. My doubts were put to rest by a God who is much bigger than us.

In Bennett news...I finally cut his hair. I actually really liked it a little longer, but it kept getting super shaggy really fast. Here are the before and afters:

A Little Bit of Christmas

Hello all,
For starters, we made it up to the Bay Area! We are alive and well. It has seemed incredibly fast and blurry, and I really know nothing about this town besides the street we live on and-God Bless them-the Trader Joe's, a half of a block away. The truth is, I don't even know what is up our street and around the bend, and I wonder where all those cars are headed... but we are here. We LOVE our new house-it completely feels like a home, even with packed and unpacked boxes still laying around. I will blog about all of it later, but I wanted to show a glimpse into our Christmas before it got away from me.

This picture captures my memory of
Christmas perfectly. Smiles, laughter, sweet cousins,
and squishy puppies.

My favorite present

I am so much bigger than I look here (think "gargantuan")!

Grammy and Santa Bennett sharing a hug

We had a great visit with the Brennans.
Bennett just loves his SLO county cousins-and
doesn't he look like part of their pack?

O.k., I have to say it...how lucky am I?

And I couldn't resist (or choose between) the following videos. The first is Bennett figuring out his new Elmo toy, the second is Tommy and Bennett playing light sabers. The light saber game was the first time we had seen little B. role play like a big kid!

I hope you enjoyed. Happy new year everyone!